As part of my current decision making process, I would really like some honest opinions of this filly, from people who don't know her personally.

But some info: 2 year old, filly, 15hh at the moment, mixed breed and as I said in the title, dubious past... Here she is when she arrived round Christmas, wild as a hare:

Very skinny, and summer coat, albeit a very staring and rough coat due to the condition she was in.

Here she is now, gaining weight (slowly, on a vet approved diet), and in her winter coat.

I hope these pics are ok for critique, was alone, and kind of in a hurry... bad me. And I forgot to take any from the other side...

And for those of you that remember her, and helped me pick her way back when... I hope this thread also serves as an update: she is doing so well! And I am more than relieved not to be able to see every bone in her spine anymore...

She looks better and will continue to improve. With some proper work she should shape up better also when she starts developing some muscle tone. The thing that sticks out as a neg. Is her hind end and legs. They just don't look right to me.

Are you doing anything with her to develope some balance and shape her up a bit?

Thanks so much Ripper and Churumbeque for your quick and positive responses.

Yes, her hind end and legs have had me up at night, I don't really know enough about the skeletal structure of horses though, to be able to see what is going on.
I haven't done much with her at all, due to her age and condition. As she was unhandle-able when she arrived, its been about groundwork, trust exercises, join-up and especially, learning to stand for the farrier.

But, I am sooo up for suggestions, Churumbeque, what exercises would you suggest for her at this point? Any help would be appreciated so much...Posted via Mobile Device

Ist off I am not about lunging or round penning for exercise but more for training. You horse is immature physically and I would treat her as such.
Either round penning or lunging I would work on getting her to do a relax extended walk where she can get her body freed up and moving. Work on her length of stride in the rear being equal to length of stride in the front end.

It took me a long time to learn this but it has been some of the most valuable things I have learned.

Voice commands are important to get down pat so they don't break gait when you push them on and get them to use there hind end. You will need to push her forward with a lunge whip and not break into a trot to get a good extended walk.

I then would work on lengthening the trot with expecting her to take some time and conditioning to be able to do it for any length of time. It is important that she keeps her head down and relaxed so as not to develop the underside of her neck.

I would also get skilled at long lining so you can get more control as your training progresses. But I don't want to bombard you with information all at once.

So I am posting 2 different pictures so you get an idea. The driving picture she is pulling her around by her front end. Look at her length of stride, the front is much larger than the rear and she is out of balance.

I spent many months trying to improve her balance and stride and as you can see her stride is much nicer in the lunging photo. Both of these photo's are when she was 3 in the early stages of training.

Had I known more ab9out stride I would have started working on this on the ground though as a yearling. I also keep my circles large so not to stress her legs

Nice job on her so far. In the next 1-2 years she is going to look a lot better as she gets more mature and muscled up. She should look more balanced in time.

The one thing that I am seeing is she is sickled hocked on the back end. Also, front pasterns look a bit more angled than they should be - but this may be the trim or the way she is standing since she isn't fully squared up.

I'm not going to pick on her confo, as I've seen people fall out of love with a perfectly good horse because of someone picking on small or even large faults that don't affect the way the horse goes or its soundness.

She's a lovely looking little filly who is going to grow up and fill out and be very nice to own. Do you have a 2nd horse who is under saddle, that you either own or can use, to pony her around with? Taking her out on a pony line and riding with her, everywhere over every kind of terrain you can think of, will do WONDERS for her over all shape and it will start getting her ready to be a steady, unflappable mount.

There is definitely something off about her back end. She has a very small him compared to the proportions of the rest of her body and she looks like she might be a little cow-hocked. Her hips might just need proper development to look nicer and once her body and weight get regulated to whatever her job will be, I think, she will start to shape up nicely. In all she is a very lovely looking horse.

Again, thanks to all of you for your wonderful and positive comments...

You cannot imagine how much I appreciate it! Its the first time I have taken on a horse like this, and I've been worried sick about some thing or another along the way... and its just so amazing to hear people say that it will end up ok. This is truly why I love this forum, its the honesty, the knowledge and more than all that, its the compassion that one receives that really helps a lot of people that feel overwhelmed in a situation. Its certainly helping me.

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